Jaime Jaquez Jr. sidelined by ankle injury during intense match against Pacers

The Miami Heat came into their game on Sunday against the Indiana Pacers without star wing Jimmy Butler who was ruled out with an ankle injury. And now with the game over after losing, 119-110, to the Pacers, they have more injury concerns to worry about. Jaime Jaquez Jr. left the Heat’s game against the Pacers early due to an ankle injury and did not return, as per the team.

Jaime Jaquez suffered the injury in the third quarter of the Heat’s loss to the Pacers. Prior to leaving the game, he had two points, three rebounds and four assists in 15 minutes of play.

The Heat play a back to back with a game against the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday. Jaquez’s status for that game is currently unknown. The second-year forward out of UCLA has been relatively healthy in terms of injuries this season, only missing three games so far due to an illness.

Heat fans are expecting a leap from Jaquez this year after he turned in an impressive rookie season in 2023-24. He was named to the NBA’s All-Rookie Team last year after appearing in 75 games including 20 starts. He averaged 11.9 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.0 steals with splits of 48.9 percent shooting from the field, 32.2 percent shooting from the three-point line and 81.1 percent shooting from the free-throw line.

Through the eight games that Jaquez’ had played in coming into Sunday’s game, he had been averaging 9.8 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.1 steals with splits of 44.8 percent shooting from the field, 43.8 percent shooting from the three-point line and 57.9 percent shooting from the free-throw line.

Last season, the Heat had to go through the play-in to reach the NBA playoffs, ending up as the No. 8 seed. They were eliminated by the Boston Celtics in five games in the first round. This season, the Heat are 5-7 and amongst a handful of teams jockeying for positioning in the Eastern Conference.

David Yapkowitz is a basketball journalist for ClutchPoints, writing news on the NBA, WNBA, and NCAA Basketball for both men and women. The Los Angeles native has bylines with Basketball Insiders, SB Nation, and The Next Hoops.